Child Pornography

News about Child Pornography, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 28, 2015

Former Mount Pleasant Police Chief Brian Fanelli pleads guilty to child pornography charge; faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in November. MORE

Jul. 8, 2015

Subway suspends its relationship with spokesman Jared Fogle after investigators raid his Indiana home; Russell Taylor, former executive of Fogle's foundation, was arrested earlier in 2015 on child pornography charges. MORE

Jun. 16, 2015

Vatican sets date for trial of Jozef Wesolowski, former envoy and archbishop to Dominican Republic, on child sexual abuse and child pornography charges; trial will be first of its kind under new criminal procedure rules enacted by Pope Francis in response to global outcry over handling of sexual abuse cases. MORE

Apr. 22, 2015

Pope Francis accepts resignation of Bishop Robert W Finn as head of Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph in Missouri following scandal over Finn's failure to report priest who took pornographic pictures of girls; event represents first time Francis has held American bishop accountable for actions of pedophile priest and raises question of whether Francis will pursue such actions around globe. MORE

Mar. 29, 2015

Former students of Bronx High School of Science teacher Jon Cruz are questioning his reputation following investigation that revealed he coerced students from other schools into sending him nude or suggestive photographs; Cruz, prominent figure in world of high school debate, was considered an exceptionally devoted teacher. MORE

Mar. 11, 2015

Federal agents identify two additional victims in case against Bronx High School of Science teacher Jon Cruz, who is charged with producing, receiving and possessing child pornography; newly-identified boys, discovered through search of Cruz's cellphone, are among his own students. MORE

Mar. 7, 2015

Jon Cruz, Bronx High School of Science teacher and debate coach, is arrested on child pornography charges for allegedly persuading teenage boys to send him revealing photos in exchange for gift cards. MORE

Dec. 23, 2014

Delaware man Christopher Wheeler is convicted on 25 counts of dealing in child pornography; Wheeler was headmaster at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Del, for nine years, and faces at least 50 years in prion. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

Minnesota State football team, led by coach Todd Hoffner, is well-positioned to win its first NCAA Division championship; Hoffner was reinstated in December after judge dismissed charges of child pornography stemming from nude videos of his young kids on his university-issued cellphone. MORE

Oct. 30, 2014

Police in Cambodia say they have arrested man identified as Michael Edward Harris, United States Army deserter wanted in Florida on child pornography charges. MORE

Sep. 22, 2014

Child Pornography case in Washington State sparks debate over military's role, and its use of powerful investigative powers, in civilian cases; use of law-enforcement program by Naval Criminal Investigative Service to uncover traders of child pornography is in question. MORE

Aug. 27, 2014

Timothy DeFoggi, former acting director of cybersecurity for Health and Human Services Dept, is convicted in Nebraska on federal child pornography charges. MORE

Jul. 18, 2014

German politician Sebastian Edathy is charged with possessing pornographic photos and videos of children. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

Japan’s Parliament outlaws the possession of child pornography; new law, however, leaves untouched the nation’s popular and sometimes sexually explicit manga comics as well as other portrayals of young girls as objects of sexual desire; exemption for the popular comics, and also of Japan’s 'anime' animated cartoons, is a concession to the nation’s powerful publishing and entertainment industries. MORE

May. 22, 2014

Dept of Homeland Security investigation leads to arrest of 71 people in New York City area on charges of possessing, producing or distributing child pornography using peer-to-peer file sharing program; suspects represent broad spectrum of professions, including two registered nurses, two police officers, paramedic, Brooklyn rabbi and airline pilot. MORE

Apr. 24, 2014

Supreme Court sets aside $3.4 million award to a victim of child pornography who had sought restitution from Doyle R Paroline, man convicted in 2009 of viewing images of her; Justice Anthony M Kennedy, writing for five-justice majority, says figure is too high, returning case to the lower courts to find a lesser amount that is neither nominal nor too severe. MORE

Mar. 23, 2014

Nicholas Kristof Op-Ed column relates story of Raven Kaliana, who was repeatedly raped on camera as a child, and has produced a play and short film Hooray for Hollywood based on her traumatic experiences; underscores fact that child pornography industry has exploded with the rise of the Internet, and is widely misunderstood. MORE

Mar. 13, 2014

Dr Richard Keller, former pediatrician who worked as the medical director of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass, is sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on child pornography charges. MORE

Mar. 5, 2014

British officials say government aide Patrick Rock had resigned from senior post shortly before his February arrest on charges of possessing child pornography; arrest came as blow to Prime Min David Cameron, who has been accused of cronyism in his choice of ministers. MORE

Feb. 1, 2014

Jan. 25, 2014

Ryan Loskarn, former chief of staff for Republican Sen Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, is found dead of apparent suicide in basement of his parents’ home in Maryland; Loskam had been arrested on charges stemming from his possession of child pornography. MORE

Jan. 23, 2014

Supreme Court justices seem stumped by question of how much Doyle R Paroline owes to woman known as Amy for possessing child pornography that documents Amy's sexual abuse; case centers on a 1994 federal law that allows victims of child pornography to seek restitution from people convicted of viewing images of their abuse. MORE

Dec. 13, 2013

Ryan Loskarn, former chief of staff to Sen Lamar Alexander, makes his first court appearance on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

Ryan Loskarn, chief of staff for Sen Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, is arrested on charges stemming from the possession and distribution of child pornography. MORE

Dec. 3, 2013

Adam Liptak Sidebar column examines details of Supreme Court case that will decide whether person convicted of possessing child pornography can be ordered to pay full restitution to the victim; notes that alternative is for liability to be split up fractionally among those convicted of possessing the material. MORE

Nov. 5, 2013

Dr Richard Keller, who worked as the medical director of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass, pleads guilty to two counts of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography. MORE

Sep. 13, 2013

Rev Shawn Ratigan, priest in Kansas City, Mo, area whose child pornography case led to misdemeanor conviction against Bishop Robert Finn, is sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; was charged in 2011 after police received flash drive from his computer with hundreds of images of children. MORE

Aug. 16, 2013

United States asks Ireland to hand over Eric Marques, man who Federal Bureau of Investigation says is world’s most prolific facilitator of child pornography; Marques is accused of using encryption technology to offer an anonymous hosting service for Web sites with total of more than one million pornographic pictures. MORE

Jul. 12, 2013

Pope Francis overhauls laws that govern Vatican City State, criminalizing leaks of Vatican information and specifically listing sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes against children. MORE

Apr. 23, 2013

Police in Nicaragua detain Eric Justin Toth, one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives who is a suspect in a child pornography investigation. MORE

Feb. 20, 2013

New York City Police Sergeant Alberto Randazzo is arraigned on numerous child pornography charges, after internal affairs investigators find explicit images and videos on his laptop computer, and has been suspended from the force. MORE

Feb. 9, 2013

Taleek Brooks, teacher's aide at Public School 23 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, pleads guilty to charges of making videos of child performing sex acts in classrooms; he faces 15 to 50 years in prison. MORE

Jan. 27, 2013

Emily Bazelon article on monetary restitution that victims of child pornography can now collect as damages, and degree to which money can help victims rebuild their lives. MORE

Jan. 14, 2013

Frederick Gonzales, president-elect of the New Mexico Young America Football League, is removed from his position after he and his wife Carey are arrested on child pornography charges. MORE

Sep. 22, 2012

Dr Richard Keller, former medical director at the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass, agrees to remain in jail pending trial on a single federal count of receiving child pornography. MORE

Sep. 15, 2012

Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass, a prestigious prep school and pediatric hospital, acknowledges that former employee Dr Richard Keller had been disciplined several times for inappropriate behavior, but says that there was no indication that any children were harmed by him; Keller stands accused of receiving child pornography. MORE

Sep. 8, 2012

Bishop Robert W Finn, convicted in Kansas City, Mo, of failing to report suspected child abuse, violated both civil and cannon law when he acted to protect a young priest obsessed with taking pornographic pictures of young girls; Finn is the first Catholic bishop in the United States to be held accountable in criminal court in the nearly three decades since the priest sexual abuse scandals first came to light. MORE

Aug. 2, 2012

Kansas City priest Rev Shawn Ratigan files notice that he will plead guilty in federal court to producing pornographic photographs of young girls. MORE

Apr. 11, 2012

Federal Bureau of Investigation adds Eric J Toth, teacher from the Washington area accused of possessing child pornography, to FBI's 10 Most Wanted list of fugitives, filling vacancy left by Osama bin Laden’s death. MORE

Feb. 9, 2012

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents return to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, elementary school to continue an investigation into teacher's aide Taleek Brooks; he had been released on bail on charges of possession of child pornography, but was rearrested after evidence surfaced that he may have molested children on school property. MORE

Feb. 8, 2012

Taleek Brooks, a teacher's aide in a Brooklyn public school who was released on bail in January in connection with charges of possessing child pornography, is arrested again; federal agents reviewing videos from the original arrest discovered some showing Brooks engaging in sexual acts with students, apparently inside the school. MORE

Jan. 14, 2012

Australia's scandal-plagued armed forces deal with the fallout from another round of embarrassing revelations about the behavior of some members after the Channel Seven News network releases internal military memos describing sexual assaults, drug use and the possession of child pornography. MORE

Dec. 5, 2011

Study published in journal Pediatrics finds one in ten children ages 10 to 17 has used a cellphone to send or receive sexually suggestive images, but only 1 in 100 has sent images considered graphic enough to violate child pornography laws; co-author Janis Wolak says study belies anxieties that 'sexting' had become common among teenagers. MORE

Nov. 5, 2011

Circuit court judge in Florida sentences 26-year-old Daniel Enrique Guevara Vilca to life without parole for downloading child pornography from the Internet; some criminal justice experts question harshness of sentence, arguing that actual child molesters receive lighter sentences; also note growing body of scientific research showing that most passive viewers of child pornography do not ever commit act in real-life. MORE

Oct. 17, 2011

Catholic priests in Kansas City, Mo, are grappling with how to address scandal in wake of Bishop Robert Finn and diocese being indicted on criminal charges for failing to report priest who had pornographic images of children, including those of congregants. MORE

National Desk

The Supreme Court today struck down provisions of a federal law that made it a crime to create, distribute or possess ''virtual'' child pornography that used computer images or young adults rather than actual children.

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